Comparison of SHS nicotine in smoking and non-smoking sections of cabins of smoking flights
| Study author; number of flights; country; sponsor | Average (SD) nicotine concentration (μg/m3) smoking section | Average nicotine concentration (μg/m3) non-smoking section | Average nicotine concentration (μg/m3) non-smoking flight | % of smoking section nicotine infiltrating non-smoking section | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| *Smoking-non-smoking border seats included; †calculated from data; ‡GM = geometric mean reported. | |||||
| All means are arithmetic with standard deviation, unless identified as geometric means as reported. | |||||
| Oldaker et al (1987)30; n = 3; unknown; tobacco industry | 9.2 GM‡ 23† (SD 29)† | 5.5 GM‡ 8.8† (SD 9.2)† | Not performed | 60% (GM) 38% (AM) | 1987 RJ Reynolds study: gas phase nicotine on 3 narrow bodied B727-200, B737-200, and B737-300 aircraft; 25 smoking section samples, 52 non-smoking section samples |
| Malmfors et al (1989)31; n = 48; Sweden: tobacco industry | 36.5† (SD 22)† | 13.0† (SD 11)† | Not performed | 36% | 1988 tobacco industry funded study on 48 SAS DC-9 and MD-80 flights; weighted average flight time of 1.8 hours |
| Nagda et al (1989)3; n = 61; USA; government, domestic flights | 13.2 (SD 15) | 0.12 (SD 0.22) | 0.04 | 0.9% | 1989 US Department of Transportation funded study on 92 random smoking (n = 69; 61 domestic and 8 international) and non-smoking flights (n = 23) |
| Nagda et al (1989)3; n = 8; USA; government, international flights | 15.1 (SD 13.6) | 0.46 (SD 0.82) | 0.04 | 3% | |
| Mattson et al (1989)21; n = 4; Canada; government | 15* | See text | Not performed | – | 1989 National Cancer Institute study: personal nicotine concentrations of 4 flight attendants and 5 passengers on four, 4 hour Air Canada transcontinental flights, 2 B-727s and 2 B767s |
| Drake et al (1990)51; n = 4; Japan; tobacco industry | 16 (SD 17) | 4.5 (SD 3.8) | Not performed | 28% | 1987 Philip Morris study on 3 B-747 international JAL smoking flights measured nicotine in all classes and zones. Based on Repace analysis of data presented. Data as reported were lower, with average levels of nicotine in the smoking and non-smoking sections being 11 μg/m3 (SD NR) and 2.5 μg/m3 (SD NR) respectively. |
| Eatough et al (1992)32; n = 4; unknown; tobacco industry | 41 (SD 26) | 9.3 (SD 15) | Not performed | 23% | Tobacco industry funded controlled experiment on four. 5 hour DC-10 smoking flights (airline not reported) at an air exchange rate of 30/hour, with zero recirculation of air. Data shown based on Repace analysis of data presented |
| Waters et al (2002)23; n = 6; USA; government | Not given | 0.38–24 (range) | Not given | – | NIOSH study on 36 US domestic and international flights. Gate-to-gate times varied from 42 to 863 minutes, and passenger occupancy in coach from 34% to 100% of capacity |